To drink or not to drink

[Rob Furness]

....Paula Ratcliffe.....

Radcliffe?

[Alexandra]

Radcliffe?

Is your pseudonym Spelling Bee?

PS As I posted this, there flashed up: "This site does not supply identity information". Big brother or what?

[stevefoster]

I think Paula did a No:2 not a pee, this site does not supply identity of poo or wee information though

[Mike T]

Mike, you are just digging yourself deeper and deeper. As far as I know, any woman peeing while running or even walking is likely to have to do the rest of the route with her shoes full of p***

I was not suggesting for one second that she pee on the move, but that if she did not need to pee she could have kept moving and not been passed by multiple people - yet another reason not to over hydrate.

[Brotherton Lad]

In my long experience, I'd agree it's better to stop for that. Anyway, back to drinking....

[Mike T]

"If anyone ever prepared meticulously for an event it would be Ms Ratcliffe. Do you really think she drank too much beforehand?" (sic)

I have great respect for Paula, some of her achievements have had me close to tears - but she and her advisers do not get everything right - look at her injury record. Did she do a "1" or a "2"? - more to the point, how many times do we see the leaders in a marathon stop for a pee - virtually never. True, some may have chosen to do it on the move, in which case the men are as likely to get in their shoes as the women. I have done 21 events that took me over 3 hours, 11 of them over 4, and have not needed to pee during any of them. In training, I have tried to practise peeing on the move, but my brain will not let me, and I then have had to stop to finish the act. I maintain that if you need to pee during a race, whether you stop or not, then you are over hydrated, and this is to your detriment - long races, what I call nervous dribbles, and those with weak bladders of either gender excluded.

[Alexandra]

I came across the following on Anton Krupicka's blog, recounting his run in the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile race:

Lap 1: Within a couple hundred yards of the off Zach Gingerich disappeared into the dark and a substantial chase pack formed that included all of the other pre-race likely suspects: myself, Scott, Hal, Karl, Ian Sharman, Mike Wolfe, Mike Arnstein, and a few others. As we’re all pretty much friends, most of this lap consisted of playful banter and no real racing, of course. I remember having to stop to pee a couple of times and upon completing the task always being amused that most of the folks around me had taken the chance to do the same thing.

K went on to run 100 miles at sub-8mph pace. OK this was a long distance event, but he and his competitors needed to pee right after the start. If they were over-hydrated it didn't hold them back much. K was 3rd. The winner finished in 12:44:35.

[stumpy]

Paula's stop was definitely a no 2 and sometimes you just have to do what you have to do!

I had a similar experience just after turning at the summit in the Oissy Oiks race a few years back - luckily the bracken was high and a good job I didn't need the map anymore

[Mike T]

I came across the following on Anton Krupicka's blog, recounting his run in the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile race:

Lap 1: Within a couple hundred yards of the off Zach Gingerich disappeared into the dark and a substantial chase pack formed that included all of the other pre-race likely suspects: myself, Scott, Hal, Karl, Ian Sharman, Mike Wolfe, Mike Arnstein, and a few others. As we’re all pretty much friends, most of this lap consisted of playful banter and no real racing, of course. I remember having to stop to pee a couple of times and upon completing the task always being amused that most of the folks around me had taken the chance to do the same thing.

K went on to run 100 miles at sub-8mph pace. OK this was a long distance event, but he and his competitors needed to pee right after the start. If they were over-hydrated it didn't hold them back much. K was 3rd. The winner finished in 12:44:35.

100 mile races are totally different - clearly if you do not eat/drink you will grind to a halt - and drinking helps to wash down the food. There is an argument in such events for being a bit over hydrated at the start so that you do not need to take so much in on the move. There is also the possibility in such long events of actually developing kidney damage - and one of the simplest ways of being fairly confident they are OK is peeing reasonable amounts of reasonable coloured urine. I would expect - indeed want - these runners to be peeing during the first of their five 20 mile laps. Cool climate marathons/Longmynd - like fell races are in a completely different category.

[Flopsy]

If I could run a marathon as fast as Paula then I don't think I'd need to stop for a pee either!!

But I'm not even going to get into this debate as I know what works for me, as I suspect do many others here.